On Sat, Mar 24, 2018 at 02:01:13PM +1030, Chris Anderson wrote: > Hello > > I have been using different flavours of Linux since slackware 96 over 20 > years ago. Since then I have installed and used at least a dozen different > flavours. By far the most challenging was the X windows system for slackware > but I managed to get it installed and running with no problems. > I am curious how if X for Slackware was by far the most challenging how you managed to get it installed and running with no problems. Even in distributions other than Slackware the configuration of X was challenging during the time period you referenced.
> Last week I bought a new PC and decided to try debian so I downloaded the > DVD version 9 and performed a fresh install besides windows 10. Right from > the off, Did you read the installation manual [0] and release notes [1] first? Did you do any research to see if your hardware vendor supports Linux in general or Debian specifically? Did you do any research to see if anyone had reported successfully installing Debian on that hardware? Is it very new (e.g., new chipsets, video card, etc.) released in just the last few months? Debian Stretch was released nearly a year ago and so very new hardware may not be well supported. > Grubb was a hassle as this was the default boot > loader,(I have always used LILO), Debian has used grub as the default boot loader for many years now. I am curious what specific problem or defect you encountered here. Could you describe it in detail and perhaps provide the associated error messages? It would help with ensuring that there is a bug report regarding the problem or documentation of a workaround. > it would not find the windows partition, I > managed to fix this. How did you fix this? It would be helpful to others searching the list archives if you could describe the problem and how you solved it. > Then it didn't give me a choice of X windows manager, I > was stuck with KDE, which I am familiar with and am aware of its may > limitations and given the choice I wouldn't use KDE for installation and > configuration. > Again, did you read the installation manual? It clearly states installing from CD may not make all graphical environments available. Did you happen to download an installation CD with KDE as the default environment? I am not aware of there being such differentiation for the installation DVDs, so I would very much like to know where you downloaded the DVD that forced installation of KDE. > Nearly everything > from the Network install How did the network install fail? Is it that you used a netinstall image and that did not produce the expected result, or did you use a standard installer that failed to configure your machine's network hardware, or both? Did the installer prompt you to load missing firmware files? This also is documented in the installation manual. > to the gcc make > command, There is no "gcc make" command. The "make" and "gcc" commands are two separate things. Michelle already addressed how to get this working in another post. Though, I am very surprised that someone using Linux for over 20 years would not have previously encountered this and known about it. > what a hassle and after spending nearly a week trying to get it all > working I've had enough and am not wasting any more of my time on this awful > software. > I can certainly understand that if you spent your valuable time dealing with unexpected installation problems that you would be frustrated. If you experienced some difficulty and would like some assistance in resolving the issues you encountered, it would be more helpful and productive to provide information about the precise steps that you took, the precise error messages that you encountered, and the result that you expected. > So thanks for wasting my time Debian and for future reference, go and get > This is most definitely not constructive and is not the sort of language or behavior that will encourage most people to try to help out. That said, I have my doubts about your actual experience. It seems more like you specifically sought an excuse to rant, or that you plunged into an installation without noting that you had the incorrect installation media or without first reading the documentation. I hope that I am mistaken. If you would like assistance in resolving the issues you encountered, please provide the additional details requested. Regards, -Roberto [0] https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/installmanual [1] https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/releasenotes -- Roberto C. Sánchez